Daily Archives: 3 October, 2007

Before toys and toothpaste became the favored buzzwords for all that is (arguably) wrong with outsourcing to China, “Nike sweatshop” held the crown, serving – as a proxy – for the mass exodus of global footwear manufacturers to Chinese factories. It’s an old story, and it isn’t changing, either: in 2006, 8 of every 10 pairs of shoes sold in the United States were made in China.

I should note that economic nationalism is no less strong in the US, and that’s why I’m fairly sure that somebody – sooner or later – is going to get worked up about the outsourcing of horseshoes. Below, a photo of a Chinese worker completing work on a stamping mold that will – I’m told – produce 1 million horse shoes annually for export to the United States.

Before going further with this, I should note that my visit to this factory was an accident of sorts; I was actually visiting a neighboring facility when I was invited to take a look at this one by someone other than the contracting American horseshoe company. Thus, out of respect for the individuals who allowed me into the facility I will not post any identifying information about the factory, the contractor, or its location – other than to say that it is located in a Northern Chinese manufacturing center. Continue reading →

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Shanghai Scrap is the personal blog of Adam Minter, Shanghai correspondent for Bloomberg World View and author of Junkyard Planet: Travels in the Billion-Dollar Trash Trade, forthcoming from Bloomsbury Press. All views expressed here are his own.